We all know that some teachers are easier to listen to and learn from than others. And we want to be teachers who are clear and engaging. In this workshop recorded live at The Gospel Coalition’s 2022 Women’s Conference, Nancy Guthrie defines what she means and doesn’t mean by “passion” and “personality” and then works through 12 ways to put personality and passion into your teaching without making it all about you. Topics include the use of story, voice variation, drama, humor, eye contact, and getting to the passion of Christ himself.
Transcript
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Nancy Guthrie
We are here to talk about putting passion and personality into our teaching. And so perhaps the a good way to start is to define what I mean and don’t mean by those terms. Okay, so when here’s what I don’t mean by passion. I don’t mean teaching that is overly emotional. Now you’re gonna hear one of my points later that I want you to put emotion in it so I don’t mean there’s no emotion but I think you know what I’m talking about, don’t you teaching that is overly emotional. And you oftentimes when it’s overly emotional, that leads to me feeling emotionally manipulated. Oh, I hear lots of I’m right. Like you’re they’re trying to make me feel whatever that emotion is. And I’m kind of a rebel. You can’t make me Alright, so emotionally manipulative are constantly demand Ending a response? There’s a difference between inviting a response and like demanding a response, don’t you think? Alright, so I don’t mean that by passion. Here’s what they do mean by passion, that our love for the scriptures is evident. A personal love of the scriptures that our desire to understand the scriptures is contagious. Don’t you love a teacher, that you can tell she loves the scriptures and makes you love the scriptures more. And that the teachers willingness to submit herself or himself to the scriptures is genuine, there’s a consistency between that person and the message. Alright, so let’s go into personality. What we don’t mean by personality, we don’t mean that the talk is 90% personal story. We don’t mean that my personality, we don’t mean that it’s we sense like, this teacher is up there doing her own personal counseling work upfront, that it’s all about her issues. Or just a general sense of too much me. In the teacher. We don’t want our personality to be at the center. But we do want to use our personality to put Christ at the center, put his word at the center. So here’s what we do mean by personality, that we do reveal some things about ourself. But it’s with a very, it’s with a determined aim. The aim is to develop relationship with our audience. So that will be heard. And even more than that, so the word will be heard. And revealing some of ourselves being personal does that. I think it also means by personality we teach as fellow learners rather than as experts. So we’re fellow learners, we’re sharing our own discovery. I think teaching with personality means that we talk about the Bible, in the same way we talk to friends about everything. You know what I’m saying how sometimes a teacher it will sound like a put on voice, or there’s just something that doesn’t, you know, that’s not how they talk naturally. But it means so much when someone just talks to the Bible the same way they talk to their friends. And then finally, that we seek to be listener friendly, rather than teacher focused. There’s a number of steps we take, and I’ll talk about some of those that show we’re really thinking about our listeners. And then what are some barriers to bringing passion and personality to Bible teaching? I think one I think this is a biggie. In fact, maybe you can tell you can like slip up your hand if this is you like an altar call I’m asking you to. Okay. That fear that a big fear of putting passion and personality in your teaching? Yeah. What are we afraid of? We’re afraid of being maybe that will come across as Oregon’s. We’re afraid of forgetting what we were going to say. What else might we be afraid of? What do you think? over exposure?
Nancy Guthrie
Yeah, exposing too much of ourselves, or exposing our ignorance? Yeah, I’ve been afraid of that one. Alright. Pride might keep us from putting passion and personality, maybe pride in a sense, there’s a certain way we want to present ourselves. And maybe it’s always in control. And so we never want to show any emotion. Maybe we’re so determined to look good in the process, that somehow we that that saps our presentation of passion over God’s word. Because honestly, we’re just more passionate about how we come across. I think one of the biggest saps to putting passion and personality in your on our teaching can be our manuscript. All right. And so we can talk about this more because I teach from a manuscript. Okay. I mean, today what I’m doing, I just have points, but when I when I do the keynote, I’m gonna have a complete manuscript. So it really takes some developed skill, to have a manuscript serve your communication, and keep you from serving the manuscript. And it becoming something that actually becomes a barrier between you teaching with passion and personality. So the rest of the time I want to spend working my way through 12 tools for bringing passion and personality to our teaching to every room on your sheet for whole all 12 I hope so. Alright. You’ll make room fabulous. I love that attitude. Okay, number one, humor, humor. And by this I don’t mean simply telling a joke. In fact, that’s just kind of lame, isn’t it? Like, someone gets up and they tell a joke, and you feel like it was totally dis didn’t have anything to do with what they were doing with it. I mean, I get that we because we want to like kind of loosen up the audience. But I’m talking about a little bit more natural, I hope humor. But even when I say natural type humor, natural humor, it doesn’t mean that it’s not a skill that you might have to put some effort into developing. It comes more naturally for some people than others, to just be humorous. But I do think it’s a skill that gets developed. Why do we want to use humor? Well, laughter I think actually gets us thinking more deeply. A lot of times we laugh about something, it can get us a little bit more engaged. I think humor creates a shared experience. You know, we’re getting in front of an audience, and especially if the audience doesn’t know you at all. I mean, humor can just break down some barriers, can’t it? Like they just come down really fast, because we’ve shared, there’s something about it, we share a laugh together. And when you are teaching, there are always going to be barriers. And you are probably going to have to make an effort, do some things, determine to some things to take some of those barriers down? When I walk into a situation, I’m looking immediately what are Are there any barriers that I can take down? Like if they’ve got me speaking up, way up some way or Hi, and I’m so far away from the audience. I’m like, can we move this work closer? Can we move this closer, right? Because I want to take down barriers. And I think actually humor does that humor is bonding. Humor is bonding, both tears and humor are bonding. There’s the sense, you get a sense of we’re all in this together. I think also sometimes we underestimate how intimidating it is for some people to walk into Bible study.
Nancy Guthrie
Not everybody has studied the Bible as much as you and not everybody is exposed to it their whole lives are not some people, you know, come from a background, that they learned it in a whole different way or some people’s just social anxiety, social awkwardness, maybe they’re afraid they’re going to be an ask a question and be exposed for what they don’t know. So humor can actually set people at ease when they come in all uptight and intimidated. Now, you might some of you might think less of me for this. But actually, one way I worked at have worked at trying to get better at this is actually study some comedians. I’m not going to tell you who because you would like shoot me out of the room. But there’s this one comedian girl, I watched one time and like, she walked out. And she started telling a story. And all of a sudden, it just felt like the home whole room felt like, Oh, it’s just us girls, and I’m talking to you telling you something that happened. And I was like, wow, I want to be able to do that. And so I can’t really do that like her. But I did kind of study how she did that. And so maybe that’s something you want to do if humor is a challenge for you. Alright, number two, story. Now, here’s the main thing about story. Your story has to serve the main thing, rather than be the main thing. Your story has to serve the main thing, it and not be the main thing. I mean, how many times have you heard someone speak and you can remember the story they told you don’t know what it had to do with anything? Or what the points were. But the story was good. All right. Now, I love a story like that. But we always as teachers, we I said we need it to not be the main thing but serve the main thing. What is the main thing? The main thing is Christ and His His Word. And so what does that mean for how we decide how to use story? Well, here’s how I do it. I have probably written a concise sentence that summarize my main aim or point that I’m going to try to get across in my talk. And so I examine that I study that and I say, is there a story I can use to set up this main point or to illustrate this main point? And then I’m probably going to have to practice telling the story. I’ve gotten myself in trouble a few times, because I just would like, put in my notes tell this story, but I’d never practice saying it out loud. And once I got in the middle of it, I really owe too much detail or, or sometimes it was like, Oh, you shouldn’t have been telling this story, right? So practice saying it out loud, you know, and practice telling it in a way that it’s going to serve the main thing that it’s going to help press in what your main point is, rather than distract from it. A lot of times a great story, maybe it’s relatable nostalgia. Aren’t those really good stories, when somebody talks about something happened when they were a kid, when they were in junior high, or whatever? And once again, why why are those good stories is when they create shared experience. And then we all feel like, Oh, well, yeah, I get that. And it builds your credibility, because you show yourself to be a human person that’s had some experiences, like all of your listeners, and it adds to their ability to hear you. A final thing about story. Here’s, here’s, here’s what the really good, what a really good story, okay, is when you can start a talk with a story. And then that comes back around at the end. Can you think of some messages that you’ve heard like that, like it started the beginning, but then it came back at the end, and resolved in a way that did what that pressed in the main point in, in a really powerful way?
Nancy Guthrie
Yeah, I’d love to tell you one of those in mind, but I gotta keep moving on. I’m only on number three. All right, number three, drama, drama. People learn not just by receiving information. When we teach. We want we want people to process what we’re saying with their minds with our points, think it through. But oftentimes, we also want them to feel the way the passage intends for them to make them feel. So how are we going to bring appropriate drama into our teaching? Well, the first way just comes with as you read the passage, it’s a crime to read a dramatic passage, flatly don’t do that. Read through the passage beforehand and figure out, you know, what are you going to emphasize? Where are you going to pause? What are you going to do with your voice as you read the passage, not to make it overly dramatic, but to honor the drama that’s actually already in there. So I was thinking about places where I have done this in my teaching, I was thinking about when I teach on Abraham and Isaac. And to me, it’s such a dramatic scene, God has come to Abraham and said, You know, I want you to take your firstborn son on the mountain, and basically offer him as a burnt offering. And then it says early the next morning, Abraham that basically he was preparing the wood for the sacrifice. So you can just kind of read over that, because it’s, it’s a detail. But when I’ve taught that in the past, the other thing I’m wanting to do, I’m wanting to make a connection from what you read about Abraham and what he’s doing there. Remember, he’s, he tells his servant, we’re going to go up on the mountain. And we will come back to you. It doesn’t tell us there in Genesis 22 why he thinks that, but when we get to Hebrews 11, we find out exactly what his thinking process was. It says, because he believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead. So like when I teach that I kind of combine that to have some drama. Um, say, I think, Okay, here’s Abraham. He’s preparing the wood. He’s chopping up the wood for the sacrifice. And he’s thinking it through. God promised that the promise would come through Isaac. And how can the promise come through Isaac if Isaac is dead? Well, I know the life he brought to my the dead parts of my body. I believe he can raise Isaac from the ashes of his body. want people to feel some drama? When we teach the know Jonah, the Jonah story, you get to the middle of the book of Jonah chapter two. And you’ve got this. It’s called the prayer of Jonah. And it’s this very poetic that he’s sinking down, down, and he feels the cords wrapping around him and the life is coming out of him. I mean, it would be a crime to do that, and not, in your own way, communicate the desperation of that, under the water, he can’t breathe. He’s about to die. Right? We want them to feel the drama of that. Maybe it’s the drama of an anticipated question. Like when you get to the book of Romans. It’s this very orderly argument that Paul is making. But I always feel when I go through the book of Romans, that he makes a point. And then it feels as if he’s anticipating someone’s objection, or question that they’re going to have. And so let’s add that drama to it. I’ve just put out a book on the book of Revelation called blessed. And as I was thinking about how do I communicate these seven letters in Revelation two and three, and so I just put myself in the, in the, in the place of people who received that letter, those original seven churches. And as I thought about it, I thought, what would it be like? someone shows up with a letter that John has sent from the Isle of Patmos. But actually, you get to that point in the letter and you realize who’s been dictating it? Who really, it’s from a letter, if it’s a letter from Jesus Himself, well, what does he want to say to us?
Nancy Guthrie
What will he What will he say? How will he affirm us? You know, and you, you begin? Maybe you’re in one of those later churches, and you’re hearing that Jesus is he gives some affirmations. But then oftentimes, there’s a but right, but I have this against you. And you’re beginning to think, oh, boy, what’s he gonna say when it gets to us? A little drama, okay. For number four, song, to include songs, sometimes just lyrics. I love to listen to Alistair, beg, preach, don’t you love his preaching? And one of the things he is a master to me at just throwing in some song lyrics. And they’re always, they’re always just right. They’re all what makes them just right. Well, they press in his main point. And they helped me to feel and to think through what he is communicating. So you can quote the lyrics. But I would also say, why not sing it. And some of you are thinking right now, because you haven’t heard me sing. I want to tell you this. I think sometimes being a bad singer. And just belting out a song is just as or maybe even more powerful than somebody with a great voice, right? Because it’s not about your voice. It’s not about your voice. When you do that. When you insert a song, it’s because what does it do? It’s serving your main point, it’s serving to press in the message of your text. To those who are listening, that’s the reason I like to use song, like, I am really picky about the song, there’s gonna be a song after my talk, I’m really picky about it. And why because that is a moment, I’ve just taken people somewhere, at least I hope so. In my message, and I, I don’t want it to just be a song about just anything. I want the song to press in the point. So for example, when I teach on David and Goliath, and I have just shown how here’s this Old Testament picture, you have a picture of the Christ in his day, the anointed one in his day, he’s doing battle with this nine foot tall representative in a sense of evil, who’s wearing scale armor. He’s like a nine foot tall serpent. And what does David do? He crushes the head of the serpent to me, it’s a picture of this ongoing battle through ad that goes on throughout the Bible. And I know where I’m going to end with that message is talking about us doing battle with evil even right now, as we wait for the ancient serpent to face final destruction. And so I tell you what, we got to sing Psalm, a mighty fortress is our God and we don’t we don’t have to necessarily start at the beginning. I want to start with and though this world with devils feel should threaten to one do us. We will not fear for God hath wield his truth to tie him to us. Prince of Darkness grim. We tremble not for him for you get the point. All right. We’re going somewhere with it. And you know what I what I always hope is that no matter when anybody then sings that song, they think, David and Goliath. All right. And by the way, just a little inside for you guys.
Nancy Guthrie
I’ve got a song, I’m hoping to do my plenary tomorrow night, but it’s not one I grew up singing, and I keep messing up the tune. So in the last minute, I may back out on that one. But I do I do, I do want you to listen for how it presses in my main point. That’s my big one. All right, number five emotion. I told you before not to be emotionally manipulative. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t want any emotion. I mean, just think about people. You listen to what they laugh at, and what makes them weep. Think about how this affects you as a listener. I mean, I think sometimes as we speak, we think, Oh, I don’t want to embarrass myself and begin to cry. But when you hear somebody get like, get a little caught. Jet, I’m not talking about manipulative, I’m talking about genuine emotion, especially when it comes as they’re talking about the most precious things of the gospel, and it moves them does it not prick your ears, if you haven’t been listening to that point, you tune in you listen, emotion, but also makes sure you use the emotion and express the emotion of the text. You’re teaching Abraham, Abraham and Sarah. They’re what he’s 100 years old, and they have a baby. And you know, that she laughed at the idea. And they have a baby named Isaac, whose name means laughter. We better not be teaching that with no joy. You want people to feel the joy of that. Or maybe you’re teaching the book of Habakkuk. And you get to that third chapter. And Habakkuk has been told that Babylon is going to sweep in and wipe out his community. And his own his probably his own farm, and family. And you read that he says, I tremble at the thought, right? But then he, then it’s almost like you follow his processes, yet, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. Well, we want our teaching to, I want, I want everyone to feel the fear of what it’s going to be like when Babylon sweeps in and destroys everything. And this is why he says, Well, if there’s, you know, no cow in the stall, and no fruit on the vine, and, but we want to, we want people to feel that. So look for ways to help people feel that maybe even the disappointment, those two followers feel on the road to a mass. They just been to Jerusalem. And they’ve seen Jesus crucified and put into the grave. They’ve heard reports that he has been resurrected, but they’re not sure if they can believe that. But you remember, when Jesus approaches them, we know how they’re feeling the emotion of that moment, because he asked them why they look so downcast. They’re disappointed help help your listeners to feel that number six, confession, confession to think about what you’re going to fess up to, even as you teach it. I think this can be a tricky one. Because sometimes confession can feel like too much information. Right? Maybe Maybe it can be too much. If, let’s say you teach a weekly class, and every week, you’re confessing how hard it is for you to do. What you’re calling people to do that might not be real effective. Confession that just feels like you know, too much. Too much of us. Sometimes I’ve heard a teacher and I felt like there that person’s confession was in place and confessing it to God. And that maybe that teacher should have started there. Sometimes it feels more like personal catharsis. Sometimes it feels like faux authenticity. So, but I would also say, maybe something that keeps us from appropriate confession of our own struggles, to live up to what we’re calling people to, can be that We think, you know, if I’m not the living example of what it is I’m calling people to do, then, you know, I shouldn’t even be teaching this and I shouldn’t, I don’t even have the credibility to call people do it. Let me tell you where the credibility is, the credibility is in the text.
Nancy Guthrie
This is where the weight of the credibility is. Now, by that I don’t mean that you can afford to be a Bible teacher whose life is completely out of alignment with the text. But I would say don’t, don’t think that you have to perfectly live out what you’re teaching. But I would say there, there are a number of times when I’m teaching, and I really struggled, because I just think, can I get up and talk about this because I know my own struggle with it. And so something happens. For me, that’s actually sometimes where I think some of my best applications come out of, because I know how much I’m struggling with it. So but maybe some of that struggle needs to happen behind the scenes. But I might also mention it like I’m thinking about my book, even better than eaten, some of you may have done that study. And so the hardest chapter of that one for me, was the chapter on Sabbath rest. Because I saw clearly what I think the Scriptures teach. My Sundays don’t always look like that. And so when I taught, I just said, let me just tell you, this is the hardest one for me. I really struggle with this. But you know, here, but here is what the Scriptures teach. And here is what the aim of my life is to come into alignment with. Don’t allow humility to keep you from calling your listeners to something. I think one of the greatest weaknesses sometimes of female Bible teachers, is that we’re a little timid to boldly call our audience to something from our talk, we can just kind of present it all and then stop. Rather than boldly call them. What are you gonna call them to? Well, depends on your texts. Maybe it’s a call to repentance, maybe it’s a call to face. Maybe it’s called a boldness, what whatever is the tone of your text, and the call of your text, boldly call people to it. Alright, number seven, voice variation. I think when you talk about a boring teacher, monotone, this is, this is what needs to happen, right? Voice variation. One of my favorite episodes have helped me my helped me teach the Bible podcast. And if you haven’t listened to it, be sure you write this down and listen to it. I bet. Honestly, I may have listened to this episode 10 times, seriously, between the recording of it, the editing of it and listening to it since since then, it’s an interview I did with Julius Kim, who’s now the head of TGC, I did an interview with him called teaching for attention and retention. And he’s got a book called preaching the whole counsel of God. And I would strongly recommend you get this even. And what fascinated me in this book is he had this whole section on brain research, and how to apply that to preaching or teaching. And it’s really about the limitations of human listeners. I needed to hear some of what he wrote in there. And then in my interview with him, and he’s got he’s got this one little section in there, why people sleep in church. Okay? And he says, it’s, it’s not because they’re sleepy. It’s because about this constant buzz that has the same pace and intensity, whether it’s high, or whether it’s low. It’s the sameness of it. It’s the lack of voice. Variation. Do you see what I’m saying? You know, just slightly changing the pace. slightly changing the tone. Right? These things help our listeners to listen to us. Our listeners have bodies and minds that have limitations. And if we want to serve them, well, this is part of what I said earlier, being listener focused and not teacher focused. We have to accommodate their limitations a lot They’ve had you teach a Bible study at night, good grief, they’ve had a long day. And you see those, you see them fight in their eyelids, and it kind of hurts your feelings. But maybe it’s not because you’re boring. But when I see that, I think immediately boys variation.
Nancy Guthrie
And that’s going to help them tune in. Or I think maybe I need to ask a question here. Maybe this is where I need to go into with a little story, if I can come up with one real fast, right? Because that’s going to, that’s going to feel a little bit different, and it’s going to help them engage. We oftentimes need to give listeners a break. Maybe we whisper maybe we pause. Because it tunes you in, doesn’t it? All right. Like, for example, if some of you been to my biblical theology workshop, okay, then you’ll remember how do you remember how I use pause, remember where he’s pause? Because I always do it. It’s where I’m talking about the story of the Bible. And I get to the point that the prophets stop prophesying. And there’s 400 years of do remember of what? And then what what do you experience? Silence? feels awkward, doesn’t it? Did you feel awkward when I did that? Like, did she forget her place? Has she forgotten what she was going to say? No, I want them to feel. Silence. Okay. Body language, body language, body language can be used for for good and for not, can it not? Sometimes, I’ll see a teacher is just constantly messing with her hair. And I want to say stop. Okay, so that can be some body language, I can think of a teacher that always tends to like rocks back and forth, right. So there can be body things that we can do that can be distracting. But I’m talking about adding passion and personality to your teaching. So I want you to get big, okay, now it feels super big upfront, you should know that probably for your listeners, what what feels like really extreme to you in terms of yours, and your body probably doesn’t feel as extreme to them. And maybe it’s gonna be different on a big stage like this than in a room with five people. Or maybe not. But I just want you to encourage you, to use your body. Maybe you roll your eyes, when you talk about something that’s ridiculous. You shake your head, you throw out your arms, these are the things that add passion, and help your listeners to stay tuned to what you’re saying. And to think through feel and process your message. Number nine, I call this unmentionable applications. And by this I mean the kinds of things that women who walk into our Bible studies rarely talk about. But for some are the biggest issue in their lives. They come in to Bible study, and maybe they think these are all the good girls. So they’ve never struggled with this sin. They’ve never had this experience. But I tell you what, when you mentioned one of these, make an application from your teaching to an unmentionable application, you’re going to connect with the audience they are going to hear so for example, maybe you met you mentioned the possibility that there might be somebody in your audience who’s had a had an abortion was probably not something that you maybe necessarily talk a lot but I tell you, when when I have taught on, maybe I’ll be telling my own story about the loss of two of my children. And this very natural fear. We have a sense sometimes when we suffer the actually we’re getting what we deserve that and, and so I’ll just kind of throw it I’m not going to talk a long time about it. But I’ll just say maybe you think that your your miscarriage or stillbirth was because of some sexual promiscuity in your past or perhaps an abortion. And I tell you what, something happens in the room when I do that. You and I’m not trying to manipulate people but I think what that does is it brings into our Bible teaching settings a realness like we’re real people here. And we realize that some of us have had some of these things. Maybe you bring in alcohol addiction. Or maybe you address that. Too many glasses of wine in the afternoon. That really maybe all your girlfriend’s just want to laugh about
Nancy Guthrie
Talk about a problem with shopping. Or talk about a struggle with same sex attraction. Or pornography. It’s not just men that struggle with pornography, to recognize that for many of your listeners have experienced, either being betrayed through adultery by their spouse, or they have been the adulterer. Don’t be afraid to go to it. weight issues. Loneliness, boredom, these I would just call them sometimes applications, but they get they get people’s attention. And they get down to real life. What a lot of people that you’re listening to you may be struggling with. Alright, my last three, I have stars beside them. Oh, and I’ve left so little time. All right. Number 10. Eye contact, eye contact, eye contact eye contacts. Get out of your notes. Get out of your notes, get out of your notes. A big challenge for me has here’s the thing. I love my words. I worked real hard on him. And sometimes I’ve got a line that I’m just waiting to deliver, right? Because it’s the good one. And I and the thing is oftentimes I find I want to say it exactly like I wrote it. Okay, but you know what happens? I’m so determined to say it exactly. Here’s how I deliver it. Like this. So ineffectively. So, get part of getting out your nose, figure out where are those really key things where I can’t afford to, to read it like this, I got to be looking at people, I got to know it. So I can say it and connect with people when I say it. And my very first TGC conference, I gave a couple of talks that were both on video. And I’ll never forget a number of months later, one day, I watched both talks. So one of them was kind of like this where I just had actually I had like a little piece of paper with seven points because it’s it wasn’t Bible teach. It was just it was a thing I did on grief. And I could talk about it very easily, you know, from memory and just what came out came out, right? So then I watched a workshop I did that I had written out and it was following my notes. And I so well remember, I watched him both back to back. And to me, the difference between the way I connected with my audience that I could actually see on video was night and day between the two. I remember my husband’s office was around the corner from mine at that point. And I remember going in his office and crawling up on his lap. And I just said to him, I’ve got to figure out how to get out of my nose. Because I could see for myself watching on video, how much more effectively I was able to communicate. When I looked up at people instead of always following my notes. Number 11 prayer. Without prayer, a message is all about what we want to say. Without prayer a message is all about what we want other people to believe or do. Prayer infuses our teaching with passion, because it is an active act of dependence on God. Even more than that is an act of desperation. In which we say God, I don’t want this teaching situation to be merely what I can make happen with my words, no matter how much I like him. No, I’m desperate for something that can only happen and that for something supernatural to happen. And that is for your spirit to work through Your Word, which is getting delivered through my words. And for you to do something significant, something eternal, something real in the lives of people. I think the other thing that happens when as I pray through a message is I find myself going back to adjust things. There were certain things that made sense to me as I as I put them on that but as I pray and you know, especially if I’m praying about a specific group, and I’m thinking about particular applications, sometimes they become more personal and more passionate just because I prayed about them. And then finally number 12 And this one gets two stars behind it because it is the most important I have saved the most important for last. The way to put passion into your teaching is to make it your aim to get to his passion.
Nancy Guthrie
Make it your aim in your top to get to the Gospel. And most often that’s going to be getting to the cross, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You know, your message doesn’t sing until you get their hearts don’t melt until you get there. I’ll never forget years ago listening to this long thing on preaching, taught by Ed Clowney and Tim Keller and Tim Keller said something in there that has always stuck with me. And it’s become such a huge part of, of my teaching aims, and that he he set out the aim to cause your audience to adore Christ. And that’s always now at the heart of when I am preparing to do Bible teaching, I want to cause my audience to adore Christ. Some people will may look at that, and they’re looking for very practical things for the how tos or whatever to come out of their teaching. I think there’s nothing more practical than that. Because all of our obedience flows out of this, doesn’t it? To cause your audience to adore Christ? And how does that happen? You and I can’t make that happen. But as we declare the person and work of Christ, most particularly in his life, death, resurrection, ascension, and promised return that causes people to adore Christ. We want to use our own passion to point to his passion. Well, thank you so much. I hope you have enjoyed this. I wish I could come here all of you teach. And see you exude passion and personality. And thank you for joining us virtually. Thanks so much, ladies.
Is there enough evidence for us to believe the Gospels?
Nancy Guthrie teaches the Bible at her home church, Cornerstone Presbyterian Church, in Franklin, Tennessee, as well as at conferences around the country and internationally, including through her Biblical Theology Workshop for Women. She is the author of numerous books and the host of the Help Me Teach the Bible podcast from The Gospel Coalition. She and her husband founded Respite Retreats for couples who have faced the death of a child, and they’re cohosts of the GriefShare video series.